SENIOR & JUNIOR LESSON 408

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIN

Ezekiel 18:1-32.
LESSON 408 -- Senior Course
MEMORY VERSE: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and
the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20).

BIBLE TEXTS:
Ezekiel 18:1-32.
1 ¶ The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?
3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in
Israel.
4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a
menstruous woman,
7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled
none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a
garment;
8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath
withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,
9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he
shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.
10 ¶ If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any
one of these things,
11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and
defiled his neighbour's wife,
12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the
pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,
13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not
live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and
considereth, and doeth not such like,
15 That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of
the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,
16 Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by
violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a
garment,
17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase,
hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of
his father, he shall surely live.
18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did
that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath
done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he
shall surely live.
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall
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 be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 ¶ But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my
statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in
his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that
he should return from his ways, and live?
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity,
and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his
righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath
trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my
way equal? are not your ways unequal?
26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity,
and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed,
and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath
committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are
not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
30 ¶ Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith
the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not
be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make
you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore
turn yourselves, and live ye.

BIBLER REFERENCES:

I God’s Just Dealings with Man

1. The Lord reproves the parable of sour grapes, Ezekiel 18:1-3; Romans 6:23.
2. The Lord shows how He deals with a just father, Ezekiel 18:4-9; Psalm 15:5; Amos 5:4.
3. He shows how He deals with a wicked son of a just father, Ezekiel 18:10-13; Leviticus
20:9; Deuteronomy 21:18-21.
4. He shows how He deals with a just son of a wicked father, Ezekiel 18:14-19
5. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” Ezekiel 18:20; Isaiah 3:11; Romans 2:9.
6. When the wicked turns from his sins and doeth righteousness, he shall live, Ezekiel 18:21,
23-28; 33:12, 16, 19.
7. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die,
Ezekiel 18:24, 26; 33:11; II Peter 2:20.
8. Israel claimed the way of the Lord was unequal, Ezekiel 18:25, 29.
9. Exhortation is given to turn from their sins and live, Ezekiel 18:30-32; 33:11; Jeremiah
35:15; Ephesians 4:22-24.

NOTES

Sour Grapes

The Children of Israel who were captive in the land of Babylon were using this proverb,
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” They were
placing their blame for being in captivity on the sins of their parents. They were not looking
into their own hearts and saying, “We have sinned, and because of our own sins the Lord
has let us be brought into captivity.”

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 It seems to be a mark of corrupt human nature to lay the blame for sin on someone else.
Just as Adam placed his sin of disobedience on Eve, and Even on the serpent, so man has
always been prone to blame someone else if he is in a sinful condition. The Lord’s law of
judgement has always been just and the same. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

Abraham realised God was just, and when the Lord was about to destroy Sodom, he
pleaded with the Lord to spare Lot, saying, “That be far from thee to do after this manner,
to slay the righteous with the wicked: . . . Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
(Genesis 18:25).

The Lord was tired of their unjustly using this proverb of the sour grapes, so through Ezekiel
he tells them their ways are unequal. He says, “All souls are mine,” the soul of the father
as well as the soul of the son. None shall die for another’s crime, none shall be saved for
another’s righteous-ness.

God’s Standard

“But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, . . . hath spoiled none by
violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; .
. . hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he
shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.” That is God’s standard for a just father.

The Lord then takes up the case of an unjust son of a just father. If a son does not live
righteously but is a robber, a shedder of blood, hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath
not restored the pledge, then in his iniquity he shall die: making it plain he shall die for his
own sins.

Then the Lord treats the case of a just son of an unjust father. If he sees all his father’s
sins and considereth and does all that is lawful and right, he shall not die for the iniquity of
his father; he shall live. The Lord is making it plain to them they need not suffer for their
father’s sins.

Now the Lord takes up the case of a sinner. If he will turn from his sins and do that which
is lawful and right, he shall live. The penitent sinner is dealt with according to his new
obedience and not according to his former sins. On the other hand, if a righteous man turns
from his righteousness back to sin, he shall be punished for his sins and his former
righteousness will be of no avail to him. He must expect, in justice, that his former
goodness will not atone for subsequent sins.

Eternal Security

There is a false teaching in the world today that when once one has been born again he is
always a child of God and will not be lost eternally regardless of how deep he may go into
sin, and though he die in his sins. They call it “eternal security.” Some say that people who
have once been truly saved and have backslidden will eventually come back to God before
they die, though they may wander in sin for a long time. It is true that they may get back
to God, but there is danger that they will not. How they can ignore the plain teaching in this
lesson is more than one can understand. In John 15:1-6, Christ teaches that the unfruitful
branches are cut off and destroyed. Every one of these branches had been attached to the
vine at one time.

David’s warning to Solomon, his son, in I Chronicles 28:9, says: “And thou, Solomon my
son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing

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 mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast
thee off for ever.”

These portions of Scripture plainly teach that a soul may have once known God and then
backslide and be lost forever. No sin will ever enter Heaven. Jesus died that we might be
saved from our sins.

The Truth of the Scriptures

A favourite text of those who believe in the so-called eternal security doctrine is John 10:27,
28, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Notice Jesus said, “They follow me.” Certainly when a soul backslides and sins, he is not
following Jesus and is no longer a sheep.

Our late Brother Jack Robbins used to say, “No man can pluck you out of God’s hand, but
you can wiggle yourself out.” ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew
26:41). When a soul yields to temptation and falls into sin, he removes himself from God’s
hand, just as Adam did when he yielded to the voice of the tempter in the Garden of Eden.
“He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be save.” (Matthew 24:13). It is the
condition that we are in spiritually at the end of the race that will determine whether we
have eternal life or will suffer eternal damnation.

“When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and
dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.” There is nothing in this verse
to make us think that because he was once God’s child the Lord will bring him back into the
fold before he dies. As the tree falls, so shall it be.

The Lord declares His ways are equal and Israel’s ways are unequal. So are the ways of the
eternal security advocates -– they are unequal.

The Lord says He is married to the backslider, and He longs to bring him back into the fold,
and will bring him back if he will repent and turn away from his sins. If one dies in his sins -
- which many do -– he is lost, eternally lost. The Lord pleads with man to repent and turn
from his transgressions so that iniquity will not be his ruin. He says, “Make you a new heart
and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

Eternal Life

“As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the
wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die,
O house of Israel? Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The
righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for
the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his
wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that
he sinneth”(Ezekiel 33:11, 12). What the Lord is looking for today is real born-again
Christians -– those who have passed from death unto life, those who have forsaken the
world, with its sin and folly, and have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. They have a
new life. Their life has been changed. They are no more children of the devil. They have
changed masters and they follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth. They are the ones who
will inherit eternal life if they continue steadfast unto the end.

Many in Israel fell by the wayside and perished while making the journey from Egypt to
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 Canaan, but God wills that all men everywhere come to repentance and live. “For I have no
pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and
live ye.”

QUESTIONS

1. What proverb were the Children of Israel using?

2. Name the different things the Lord says a just man will do.

3. In the day that a righteous man sins, what happens to him?

4. In the day that a sinner turns from his sins, what happens to him?

5. What false doctrine does this chapter in Ezekiel refute?

6. Explain how God’s ways are equal.

7. How do we get a new heart?

8. Why does the Lord plead with the sinner to repent?

Junior Course

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIN

Ezekiel 18:1-32.
LESSON 408 -- Junior Course
MEMORY VERSE: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

Messages from God’s Word

The Book of Ezekiel is sometimes considered a book of mystery and there are some things
we do not understand, but there are many things in this Book that are easily understood.
We learned in the previous lesson of the message the Lord gave Ezekiel for the people.
Forty-six times in this Book it is recorded, “The word of the LORD came unto me, saying”.
We read in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away.”
A Proverb
Today’s lesson begins with: “The word of the LOD came unto me again, saying, What mean
ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten
sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?” A proverb is similar to a parable,
sometimes described as a short story from which a moral or spiritual truth is drawn; or a
saying with a hidden meaning. Jesus often spoke in parables; and we have a whole Book in
the Bible called, The Proverbs.
This proverbs is explained in Jeremiah 31:29, 30: “In those days they shall say no more,
The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every
one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be
set on edge.” Evidently the Lord was displeased with children blaming their father for their
own sin and excusing themselves.

Three Examples
In this chapter a word picture is drawn of three men. The first one is good and does the
things that are lawful and right: he does not worship idols, he feeds the hungry, clothes the
naked, keeps the commandments of the Lord. God says of this man. “He is just, he shall
surely live.” We would call him a Christian.
Now another picture: this one is the son of the one just described. What kind of picture
does he present? He is a robber, a murderer, a worshiper of idols; he receives wrongful
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 gains on his money. God says of him: “He shall not live: . . . he shall surely die; his blood
shall be upon him.” The Lord is speaking of spiritual death, or being separated from God.
Perhaps his father had tried to teach his son to be good, but he did not obey. When he
dies, his soul is lost because of his own sins. He cannot say, “I am not responsible; my
father is to blame for my sins.” Oh, no! He is guilty before God!
The third picture is of the son of this wicked father. He considers the sin of his father, but
instead of following in his steps, he follows in the ways of his grandfather -– the first man
described. He does not worship idols, he feeds the hungry, provides clothes for the naked.
He walks in the way of the Lord, he does not take advantage of another in order to enrich
himself. We would say of such a person, “He is a Christian; he has been born again.” God
says: “He shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.” So we learn from
these three examples that each man is held responsible for his own soul. “The soul that
sinneth, it shall die.”
The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of people who said: “our fathers have sinned, and are not (or
are dead); and we have borne their iniquities” (Lamentations 5:7). But the Lord said: “All
souls are mine; . . . the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Regardless of what their parents
had done, it was up to them individually to seek the Lord and do right.
A little girl once dreamed that she ran to catch hold of the skirt of her Christian mother as
the Lord came. She thought surely then she could go to Heaven with her mother. But the
Lord pushed her aside and took her mother away, which taught the girl that she must get
ready to meet the Lord for herself.
This chapter is easily understood: “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither
shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be
upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

The Fall of Man

Ever since the creation of man in the Garden of Eden, Satan has caused people to blame
others for their mistakes and their sin. We know the story of Adam who blamed Eve for
giving him the forbidden fruit; Eve blamed the serpent. When Adam and Eve committed sin,
they felt condemnation; and even though they tried to excuse themselves, they were guilty
and were punished by God. Through their transgression, sin, trouble and sickness came
into the world, and since then every child is born with the nature of sin, which we call the
Adamic nature. God overlooks the little gestures of anger, stubbornness and disobedience
of an infant; however, when a child reaches the age where he is condemned for doing
wrong. He must pray to Jesus and receive forgiveness for his sin if he wants to please God.
Then he may receive sanctification, which takes out the root of sin, or the sin nature with
which he was born. There is no excuse: Jesus suffered and died on the Cross and rose
from the grave that we could be saved and sanctified and live an upright life.
Today it is still the tendency of people to blame others for their failures. Perhaps a mother
in the home or a teacher in the school will try to find out who broke a window. Often boys
and girls will do what we call “pass the buck” -– in other words, the guilty person will not
admit his guilt but tries to lay the blame on another.
We know that little children follow the example set by their parents. Often before a child
can speak plainly, he will imitate those about him. If a father smokes, his little boy will
often say, “When I get big, I am going to smoke.” When parents speak harshly to a child,
that child usually replies in the same manner. How important it is to set a good example.
God is faithful to everyone, and even though children are not taught about Jesus in the
home, even though they do not attend Sunday School, yet God speaks to them. When they
reach the age of accountability God deals with their soul. If they close their heart to the
voice of God their heart becomes harder, and as they grow older they commit greater sins.
But we learn from this lesson that they have no one to blame but themselves for their sins.
“If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things”
(I John 3:20). God is faithful and “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John
1:9). When God speaks, that is the time to turn from sin and seek Him.

The Backslider

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 Verse 24 of chapter 18 is similar to verse 20 of chapter 3, which we studied in the previous
lesson. From it we learn that when a righteous person commits sin, he is once more a
sinner and all his righteousness shall not be remembered. The Lord offers hope to that
person whom we call a backslider. If he turns from his wickedness, “he shall save his soul
alive.” The Israelites said that the ways of the Lord were not equal. But God’s ways are fair
and just: He has always punished the guilty and He always will. “I will judge you, O house
of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves
from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
Oh, the pleading voice of God! How He calls, pleads, and yearns for the sinner to return to
Him. “For why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasures in the death of him
that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” God invites all and
rejects none who seek Him.

The Application
Those who have read the text and the above notes shall surely be held accountable for this
knowledge. They cannot say, “If I miss Heaven, I will blame another.” Your minister, your
Sunday School teacher and the writer of this lesson have warned you. God’s Word has
spoken: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The responsibility rests upon you.

QUESTIONS
1. What kind of person was the first man described in this chapter? The second man? The
third?
2. Why are these example given?
3. Do you think the son must bear the iniquity of the father? Must the father bear the
iniquity of the son?
4. What happens when a wicked person turns from all his sins and seeks the Lord? Are all
his transgressions forgotten?
5. When a righteous person turns away from God, what is his condition then? Is his
previous righteousness still remembered by God?
6. Whose ways are unequal, the ways of the Lord or the ways of man?
7. Give an example of God’s punishment upon guilty persons.
8. What is a proverb? A parable?
9. What do we call one who has turned away from God? May he return to the Lord?
10. If a child is not taught right from wrong by his parents, how can he know when he
commits sin?

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